Good idea lost in the noise

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Of course the scenario has been touched on in many other films. There is also some real love from the film makers visible towards their film. But, as most of the time the movie suffers from their stereotypical protagonists.

First and foremost, do not believe a word anyone who reviews this film as anything less than a 6/10 has to say. There is undeniably a lack of persuasive material at the start of this film; more could definitely have been made of the initial attack, the acting is by no means as compelling as that in the second half. However, this is a film very, very much for those who like to completely immerse themselves in the storyline and appreciate the effort put into a twisted one. What The Divide does so impressively, in my mind, is take your initial, average nuclear-detonation bunker survivalist meet and greet and turn it into something so much darker.The character development (more the character decay) throughout this film is some of the best I have seen in any horror. Multiple characters are seen to unsurprisingly lose their minds, but the fashion in which it occurs is truly harrowing. There are scenes I did not expect to come across in a movie with such despicable reviews. There is thought applied here on the filmmaker's part. Without wanting to give too much away, the deterioration of one female character's mind and body is almost troubling to watch. Sexual aggression is a theme rife throughout and it is not a film for those unaccustomed to such psychological torment.Most impressive in my mind is the total absorption of the characters in these actors. It is the closest, and for that reason, most troubling enactment of societal breakdown I can envision in such a scenario. So confined, so reliant upon one another... that can and does turn nasty. The make-up is very impressive bar a few, unfortunate details (likely to not even occur to those not looking) and the actions of the character in the final scenes are some I considered exciting, spontaneous, opportunistic and required where others did not. I would suggest those of that opinion do not possess the intellectual spread to appreciate her reasons for doing as she does.A fine, fine film. One I will not forget.

It was a nuclear attack , the kind that leave no prisoners . All the inhabitants of a building trying to find shelter . Only 8 able to take refuge in the underground bunker of the same building , "inhabited " by the caretaker. The film is shot very well , it exploits the great great location , the actors have worked very well and the climax and rhythm are really well calibrated . The main theme , is the isolation that leads to madness , the emergence of victims characters , executioners , cruelty and liabilities but in The Divide the Apocalypse is just an excuse , merely a contingent situation that lives the group . Impazisce someone , someone takes the lead , forming little groups . The small group who commands is what will also manage the food rations . And that's what most cynical and violent .

This is a disturbing, thought-provoking, well-made film that has a huge fatal flaw to it. The characters are incredibly underwritten. This is a film that exemplifies the need to examine the characters life before the disaster occurs sending their life into a tail-spin. Unfortunately this film starts at the disaster, a nuclear explosion, before hinting at some of the characters pasts. And these are the only characters that we come to slightly know and care about. That is about 5 characters in a film where 9 characters play pivotal roles. And you only get to know those 5 characters slightly. The problem here is that 2/3 of the way through the movie is that the movie doesn't connect us with its characters. Its intention is to show the moral ambiguity of these characters and how they turn from civilized human beings to a "Lord of the Flies style group cannibalizing on the weaker members. And that's fine. I love "Lord of the Flies". But the director avoids allowing you to know the characters fully and that is a problem. If you don't know what the characters were like before hand, how can you be emotionally involved in where they end up? The director doesn't present the full spectrum here. Those who are given a slight backstory are very well played, especially by Rosanna Arquette as a mother who allows herself to be degraded to the worst possible degree in order to survive. But some of the characters are so thinly written that they begin psychotic and end up psychotic and you have no idea of what their connection is to any of the others or why they are there in the first place. And that is what hurts this film. You end up asking "Who are these people" 2/3 of the way through because you are not allowed to know them. It's a well made, well-acted film that trods along familiar lines but does so with intelligence. The problem is it doesn't want you to connect to it.